Power theft is a problem that has made its way into Ugandan homes and businesses, robbing the economy of 105 billion shillings every year, consequently weakening the economy, causing power outages, tariff increases and deaths from electrocution.
When we were asked by Umeme (Uganda’s leading power distributor) to create a campaign to help build awareness and help end this vice – our mission for the campaign was simple, we wanted people to take united action against electricity theft.
Our approach was to create collective shame for the perpetrators hence the campaign name “Wuuyo” – which is a local alarm call that points out a thief or wrongdoer.
We kicked the campaign off with a 30-day amnesty encouraging anyone on the wrong side of the law to correct their ways.